To get to Venice, the train journey was around 15 hours. That’s why we decided to do it overnight, which worked out pretty well and saved us paying for a night accomodation!

We were in a six seater cabin and when we boarded there was only three of us in our section. So we all had plenty of space to stretch out. However, there were a couple of hours around midnight where there were five of us in the six seater cabin. So that was a little uncomfortable for a while.

Either way we both managed to get a decent amount of sleep before arriving in Venice at 8:30am the next day.

When we arrived in Venice it was cloudy but kind of humid. Right outside the train station we jumped on a boat that took us to our hostel.

I’ve seen so much of Venice that I’ve always wanted to visit. The first thing that surprised me was how blue the canals were! That might seem strange but any other canals with a lot of boats operating in them are usually dark gross water. But in Venice the water is bright blue, it’s beautiful.

Our hostel here is probably the best we’ve stayed in yet. It’s a shame we’re only here for one night.

We dropped our stuff off at the hostel then headed into the city again by boat…(you go everywhere by boat in Venice, so I won’t keep mentioning that!)

Two other athletes from our University (Massachusetts, Amherst) were in Venice at the same time as us, so we met up with them at Saint Mark’s Basilica.

You couldn’t take any photos inside the Basilica, but it was a huge cathedral with enormous some ceilings, decorated with gold mosaic tiles.

We ate pasta and pizza for lunch and I couldn’t resist splurging at a small Italian bakery. I got two cannolis and a slice of tiramisu. Heavenly!

For the rest of the day we walked around the city and as someone told us, the best way to see Venice is get lost in its streets..so we did just that.

It’s hard to explain the city’s layout because there are no roads, just all canals. But, inbetween the canals it’s all tiny streets that run through tall building. So it’s like a huge concrete maze. Luckily the city isn’t that big, so you’re never too far away from where you want to go. I found it extremely hard to grasp my barings though!

Before dinner we took a Gondala ride along the small canals. This was definitely my favourite part of Venice. It was so calm and quiet, so relaxing. Our Gondala (driver?!) was called Marco. He was very friendly and explained some of the city’s history as we paddled through it.

We grabbed dinner in town before getting a boat back to the hostel. I was very tired from the early start and nights sleep on the train, so I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.